What could possibly be more disconcerting than seeing a Queensland state politician at a formal dinner in a suit with white running shoes? This is after all the home of the “white shoe brigade” of property developers and flamboyant politicians that proliferated during the Bjelke Petersen years in the 70s and 80s. But here he was: State energy minister Mick de Brenni turning up at the Clean Energy Council’s state dinner on Tuesday in very white sandshoes. But it was to make a point, a little bit about sustainable fashion, and mostly about sustainability in general.
The shoes are made from recycled wind farm blades, and are a joint effort between Spanish energy giant Acciona and Spanish fashion group El Ganso. They were presented to the minister during the official opening of Acciona’s Aldoga solar project a few weeks ago, which will be one of the state’s biggest. Acciona is also building the 923 MW Macintyre wind farm in the same state, which will also be the country’s biggest when complete, at least for a while.
“I wanted to wear them to make a point tonight about being innovative about how we tell our story to Australians about the clean energy transition industry,” de Brenni told the audience, numbering nearly 500 at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Recycling wind turbine components is a relatively new industry, given that the first wind projects only started being erected at scale in the last few decades. But new with studies showing that 90 per cent of wind.
